The Philosophy of Spilled Cookies

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It’s funny how names come to you. I struggled with what to name my blog, I wanted something catchy and memorable, but really had no idea of what to call it. Then one Saturday I was making cookies for a friend’s birthday and as I was taking them out of the oven I managed to clip the oven door with the pan, shift it in my hand so that the pot-holder slipped and wind up dropping them on the floor. Yep, I had spilled cookies all over the floor.

Then it I remembered doing this same thing before as a teenager. My brother was off at college and came home on the weekends to do laundry, get food, and I liked to make him a big batch of chocolate chip cookies to take with him back to college when he came.

I was baking up a nice big batch of chocolate chip cookies and the house was filled with the smell of them cooking. Part of the reason I love chocolate chip cookies is because of the wonderful aroma they give off while baking. I had worked so hard to make them in time and there they were spilled on the floor. I wanted to cry, but instead I started over and worked faster.

As I was searching for a name I realized that my life has been a big round of spilled cookies at times, not the hurl up kind, but the work your tail off, try hard to get things right and have time to enjoy things, only to have them somehow get knocked down or dropped and everything to get crumbled and spilled on the floor kind.

There is of course a lesson there and it’s one I thankfully learned pretty early. First, don’t just rush through the preparation of things and think you will enjoy the end product, take your time, smell the aroma’s, enjoy the taste, the feel, the putting together of things as you go, then even if things don’t work out, you haven’t lost much because you still have the wonderful experiences and memories of the journey to get there.

Second, learn to laugh and take things lightly. Life is hard enough without having to take everything so seriously. It’s okay to drop a few cookies, or have some crumble along the way, it happens! Just think of all the smiles and laughter that you’ve had along the way and the joy when things do actually go right and everything works out as planned.

It’s a beautiful day today, and a journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step. So, get up, it’s time to start the preparation and take that step on to the next goal, even if it’s just cooking up another batch of cookies.